“And I’ve said this since day one – it’s not the [rest of the] band. As soon as that story hit, the band called and apologised. They were like, ‘It’s not us, we promise. It’s this guy. We don’t…’ And I had hung out with the band before and they’re super-cool dudes.”

He added: “I don’t want people holding it against the band, because it’s not them. It’s Captain Ego from Planet Douche.”

Asked if there was a beef between him and Kroeger before the latter had made the comments, Taylor replied: “No, not really. I mean, I said something maybe, like, fifteen years ago, but I was drinking then. Nobody was listening to me then.

“And I haven’t said anything since,” he continued. “I don’t even think about him. For real. This came so far out of left field that I woke up to everyone, like, blowing me up. And I was like, ‘Really?!'”